The Extra's Regressor Wives

Two days later.

Night had fallen over the forest south of the Church’s Magic Academy.

This area lay beyond the Academy’s main barrier, but it was still within Church-controlled territory and was often used for field training by students with actual combat experience. Low-ranked magical beasts were common, medicinal herbs were not difficult to find, and as long as one avoided going too far east, most dangers remained manageable.

In a clearing surrounded by enormous trees, three students sat around a campfire.

Two men and one woman.

Their cloaks all bore the Academy’s crest, though after two days in the forest, the fabric was already covered in dust and dirt.

The blond male student had placed his sword within easy reach of his right hand. The other young man was turning a piece of meat over the flames with a wooden stick, while the female student in a pale blue mage robe sat against a tree with her knees drawn up.

The smell of roasting meat mixed with woodsmoke and drifted through the forest.

The blond student looked beyond the edge of the firelight.

"Tomorrow, we’re going back."

The student roasting the meat looked up.

"Wasn’t the plan to stay another two days?"

"I know."

"Then why?"

The blond student remained silent for several seconds before lowering his voice.

"The corpse from yesterday."

The wooden stick in the other student’s hand immediately stopped moving.

The female student also raised her head, the relaxed expression on her face disappearing.

After a moment, she said,

"The instructor told us not to keep talking about that."

"It’s only the three of us."

The blond student rested one hand on the hilt of his sword.

"You both saw it. Did that really look like a normal death?"

Neither answered immediately.

Because the scene from the previous afternoon was still too clear.

They had discovered a corpse buried deep in the bushes near a stream.

There were almost no bite marks from magical beasts.

No wounds severe enough to explain the death.

Yet the entire body had shriveled.

The skin clung tightly to the bones.

The eyes had sunk deep into their sockets.

The hair had turned white, making the victim look as though decades of life had been ripped away in only a short time.

The strangest part was that both the blood and mana inside the body were gone.

As if whatever had attacked the victim had not merely drained strength.

It had drained life itself.

The student roasting meat set down the stick and forced a smile.

"Could be some unusual magical beast. The forest is huge. It wouldn’t be strange if there are species we’ve never encountered."

The female student frowned.

"If it was a beast, why was the corpse still intact?"

"Some species only drink blood."

"And the mana?"

The young man immediately fell silent.

The female student pulled her cloak tighter and unconsciously glanced toward the darkness.

"The healer with the patrol team said the corpse’s mana pathways had almost completely withered. He said it looked like something had drained the foundation itself."

The blond student turned toward her.

"Where did you hear that?"

"I was standing nearby."

"So you think a person did it?"

The female student did not answer directly.

The blond student did not press her.

He drew his sword and laid it across his thighs.

"Whether it was a person or a magical beast, we leave tomorrow. We report it to the Academy and let the Judgment Division handle the rest."

This time, the other two did not object.

Silence settled over the clearing again.

After a while, the student cooking the meat forced another laugh in an attempt to ease the tension.

"We don’t need to be that scared. All three of us passed the intermediate combat assessment. If it really is just some lunatic hunting people in the forest, he might not dare target students of the Church."

The blond student nodded.

"Just don’t separate."

The female student finally relaxed her shoulders slightly.

"Eat quickly. Then we split the night watch."

"Fine."

The student by the fire bent down to pick up the wooden stick.

A faint sound came from the bushes to their right.

Rustle.

All three froze.

The blond student drew his sword almost instantly.

The female student shot to her feet, a blue magic circle already beginning to form around her palm.

The third student grabbed his wand and moved beside them.

Within seconds, the three had positioned themselves back-to-back.

The darkness between the trees remained still.

No magical beast rushed out.

No footsteps followed.

Only the wind moving through the canopy.

The blond student narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe it was only—"

A thin layer of smoke suddenly crept over the dry leaves.

Colorless.

Its scent was so faint that it was nearly impossible to detect.

The female student noticed first.

"Wait!"

She immediately covered her mouth.

Too late.

Dizziness struck her.

The magic circle forming around her palm collapsed.

Her knees weakened.

The blond student staggered as well, his sword suddenly feeling much heavier than it should.

"Poison..."

He had only managed one word when the darkness behind them moved.

A figure burst out.

Too fast.

The student holding the wand barely began turning his head before a blade pierced straight through his throat.

SHNK!

His eyes widened.

Blood poured down his chest.

The attacker pulled the blade free and shoved the body aside as though removing an obstacle from the path.

"Eric!"

The female student tried to raise her hand and form a shield.

The mana she gathered immediately scattered.

A blue-white flash lit the clearing.

BOOM!

Lightning struck directly between her brows.

Her body jerked violently before collapsing beside the fire.

The blond student roared and tried to swing his sword.

But the smoke had already drained the strength from his entire body.

His arm only rose halfway before his vision began to blur.

The last thing he saw was a hand raised toward him.

Bright lightning gathered between its fingers.

"You..."

BOOM!

The bolt tore through his head.

His body fell.

The forest immediately returned to silence.

Only the crackling of burning wood remained.

The black-cloaked figure stood among the three corpses for a moment before slowly lowering his hood.

Firelight illuminated Aldric’s face.

Two days without proper sleep had left him paler than before, with faint hollows beneath his eyes.

The wounds Lathel had inflicted had mostly been healed with potions, but when Aldric turned, the muscles on the left side of his abdomen still stiffened briefly from pain that had not fully disappeared.

The greatest change was in his eyes.

The old confidence remained.

But beneath it now lurked a darkness he could no longer completely hide.

Aldric looked at the three bodies and smiled faintly.

"Three."

He glanced around.

"Better luck than yesterday."

He crouched beside the blond student, placed two fingers against his neck to make sure he was completely dead, then bit the tip of his index finger.

A drop of blood fell onto the dry leaves.

It did not soak into the ground.

Instead, the red stain spread outward like ink dropped into water.

Thin streams of blood crawled across the earth, twisting and connecting until they rapidly formed a large magic formation around Aldric and the three corpses.

The smell of blood thickened immediately.

The campfire continued burning, but within the formation, its orange light was gradually swallowed by a dark crimson glow.

Aldric stood at the center and slowly spread his arms.

"Begin."

BOOM!

Every line of the formation beneath his feet lit up at once.

The ground inside the ritual instantly became a dark-red lake of blood.

Vague faces continuously surfaced beneath it, mouths stretched open as though screaming.

Arms reached upward from below, but each time they came close to breaking the surface, something dragged them back into the depths.

Aldric glanced at them once and lost interest.

Three blood-red threads slowly emerged from the lake.

SHNK!

They stabbed directly into the three corpses.

The opposite ends immediately pierced through the clothes covering Aldric’s back.

His entire body went rigid.

"Urgh..."

A current of power that somehow felt hot and cold at the same time traveled up his spine and flooded into his mana pathways.

The three corpses began drying out rapidly.

Their blood disappeared first.

Then their mana.

The flesh contracted.

Their faces hollowed.

The color drained from their hair.

Thin strands of light were ripped from their mana pathways and pulled through the three crimson threads into Aldric’s body.

He closed his eyes.

He could feel it clearly.

The mana pathways of the three victims were being broken apart.

They were no longer intact as they had been while alive, but each fragment was still being forcibly merged into his foundation by the ritual, making the mana channels inside his body expand.

A little.

Only a little.

Several minutes later, all three blood threads withdrew at once.

The lake beneath his feet disappeared as well.

The faces struggling beneath the surface sank together with the final traces of crimson light.

Aldric opened his eyes and immediately inspected his body.

His mana had increased.

His mana pathways had strengthened as well.

But the improvement was far too small.

"That’s it?"

His expression immediately darkened.

Aldric circulated his mana through his body once more, then looked at the nearest corpse with disgust.

He kicked it.

THUD!

The shriveled body rolled into a tree.

"Damn it."

Aldric spat onto the ground.

"Absorbing them after death leaves only about one-tenth."

While a person was still alive, the soul, mana, and mana pathways remained tightly connected.

The ritual could forcibly tear out most of the foundation.

But once death occurred, even a few minutes were enough for the quality to deteriorate drastically.

Aldric looked at the remaining two corpses and clenched his teeth.

"One-tenth..."

"If this continues, how many people will I need to kill before it’s enough?"

An image immediately surfaced in his mind.

Leviana.

Her Ice Veins.

A foundation that had once reached the Sage Realm.

If he could obtain all of that while she was still alive, the result would undoubtedly surpass these students by an enormous margin.

Then another face appeared.

Lathel.

Violet eyes.

Black energy surrounding his body.

That fist smashing into Aldric’s abdomen until it had felt as though his internal organs were being crushed.

His hand tightened instantly.

"Lathel..."

The memory of being stepped into the dirt by an Extra was enough to reignite his anger.

"You piece of trash..."

Aldric had only just straightened when a sudden ringing exploded inside his head.

He stopped.

A faint sound appeared.

At first, only a whisper.

Then it became clearer.

"...hurts..."

"...give it back..."

"...why..."

"...I don’t want to die..."

Aldric immediately looked around.

There was no one there.

The three students on the ground were all dead.

Yet the voices did not stop.

They were coming from inside his head.

"...monster..."

"...murderer..."

"...give it back..."

Aldric pressed both hands against his head.

"Damn it..."

The voices began overlapping.

Men.

Women.

Young.

Old.

Not only the three people in front of him.

There were more.

Far more.

Veins bulged at Aldric’s temples.

"SHUT UP!"

His roar echoed through the forest, startling the birds sleeping in nearby trees into flight.

The voices weakened for several seconds.

Then returned.

Aldric breathed heavily before slowly looking down at the black ring on his hand.

"Morgana."

No response.

His teeth ground together.

"Master."

Only then did Morgana’s voice finally answer.

"I’m listening."

Aldric pressed hard against his temple.

"What is this?"

Morgana remained silent for a moment before replying calmly,

"A side effect."

Aldric frowned.

"A side effect?"

"You are forcibly absorbing other people’s mana pathways." Her voice remained level, almost indifferent, as though she were explaining an ordinary lesson. "Did you think they were nothing more than empty channels for mana?"

Aldric looked at the three corpses on the ground.

Morgana continued,

"Mana pathways mature together with their owner’s body, mana, and soul. Every channel retains traces of that person’s will. When you forcibly drag those pathways into your own body, it is only natural that fragments of lingering consciousness come with them."

A faint sob sounded inside Aldric’s head again.

His jaw tightened.

Morgana said,

"Looks like you’ve finally started hearing them."

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